Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Psalms 62:8
Trust in him at all times; [ye] people, pour out your heart before him: God [is] a refuge for us. Selah.
8. Render in accordance with the Massoretic punctuation, Trust ye in him at all times, O people. He exhorts his faint-hearted followers, who were in danger of being carried away by the show of power on Absalom’s side. Cp. 2Sa 17:2 ff for ‘people’ used of David’s adherents. It is unnecessary to follow the LXX in reading, Trust ye in him, O whole assembly of the people.
pour out your heart ] Give free vent to your anxieties: make them all known to God. Cp. Psa 42:4.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Trust in him at all times – This exhortation, addressed to all persons, in all circumstances, and at all times, is founded on the personal experience of the psalmist, and on the views which he had of the character of God, as worthy of universal confidence. David had found him worthy of such confidence; he now exhorts all others to make the same trial, and to put their trust in God in like manner. What he had found God to be, all others would find him to be. His own experience of Gods goodness and mercy – of his gracious interposition in the time of trouble – had been such that he could confidently exhort all others, in similar circumstances, to make the same trial of his love.
Ye people, pour out your heart before him – All people. On the meaning of the phrase pour out your heart, see the notes at Psa 42:4. The idea is, that the heart becomes tender and soft, so that its feelings and desires flow out as water, and all its emotions, all its wishes, its sorrows, its troubles, are poured out before God. All that is in our hearts may be made known to God. There is not a desire which he cannot gratify; not a trouble in which he cannot relieve us; not a danger in which he cannot defend us. And, in like manner there is not a spiritual want in which he will not feel a deep interest, nor a danger to our souls from which he will not be ready to deliver us. Much more freely than to any earthly parent – to a father, or even to a mother – may we make mention of all our troubles, little or great, before God.
God is a refuge for us – For all. For one as well as another. He is the only refuge; he is all the refuge that we need.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Psa 62:8
Trust in Him at all times.
The duty of trusting in God
I. As interesting fact asserted. God is a refuge for us. This is a fact in which all mankind are deeply interested. If God be not our refuge, we are undone, and must finally perish in our sins. But, thank the Lord, He has not left us without help. He hath remembered us in our low estate, for His mercy endureth for ever.
II. An important duty enjoined. Trust in Him at all times. This is both the imperious duty, and the highest interest of every human being. There is no season in the whole compass of human existence when it is not needful to trust in the Lord.
III. An encouraging direction urged. Ye people, pour out your hearts before Him. Thou, God,.seest me, is a sentiment that should deeply impress our minds at all times; but especially in our addresses to the throne of grace. (Sketches of Four Hundred Sermons.)
Confidence in God
I. The object of our confidence–God. Trust in Him: in His perfections and prerogatives–His power, wisdom, goodness, love. Trust in Him at all times: prosperity, sorrow, etc. Trust in Him at all times. May I? You must. Is it not presumption? Nay; the presumption would be the other way. When your child trusts in your affection, and walks in obedience to your will, regarding your promise as truth, that child is not presumptuous. It is presumptuous when he disputes your authority or truthfulness, and is refractory. Filial affiance, humble love, lowly but perfect confidence, are not presumption, but obedience.
II. This is our privilege, that we may pour out our hearts before God. Pour out your heart in personal prayer and supplication. God sees the heart; yet open it yourself to Him. Spread your case before Him. It will be your comfort and relief, your solace and your satisfaction.
III. The safety which it assures to all who exercise that confidence, and avail themselves of that consolation. God is a refuge for us. There is our security. (J. Stratten.)
How are we to live by faith on Divine providence? –
I. Trusting in God is a believers duty (Psa 65:5; Pro 3:5; Isa 51:5; Psa 52:8; Psa 78:22).
II. What it is to trust in God.
1. Generally. To trust in God, is to cast our burden on the Lord, when it is too heavy for our own shoulder (Psa 55:22); to dwell in the secret place of the Most High; when we know not where to lay our heads on earth (Psa 91:1); to look to our Maker, and to have respect to the Holy One of Israel (Isa 17:7); to stay ourselves, when sinking, on the Lord our God (Isa 26:8); in a word, trust in God is that high act or exercise of faith, whereby the soul, looking upon God, and casting of itself on His goodness, power, promises, faithfulness and providence, is lifted up above carnal fears and discouragements, above perplexing doubts and disquietments, either for the obtaining and continuance of that which is good, or for the preventing or removing of that which is evil.
2. More particularly.
(1) The ingredients of trust in God are–A clear knowledge or right apprehension of God, as revealed in His Word and works (Psa 9:10; Psa 91:14). A full assent of the understanding, and consent of the will, to those Divine revelations, as true and good, wherein the Lord proposeth Himself as an adequate object for our trust. A firm and fixed reliance of the whole soul on God.
(2) Its concomitants–An holy quietness, security and peaceableness of spirit, springing from a full persuasion of our safety. A steadfast, well-grounded hope, which includes–
(i.) A holy and confident expectation and looking out after Gods gracious presence;
(ii.) An humble and constant waiting on Gods leisure. An humble, holy and undaunted confidence.
(3) Its effects. Fervent, effectual, constant prayer. Sincere, universal, spiritual, cheerful, constant obedience. Soul-ravishing, heart-enlivening joy (Psa 13:5; Isa 12:2; 1Pe 1:8).
III. What is, or ought to be, the grand and sole object of a believers trust. The Lord Jehovah is, or at least should be–
1. The grand object of a believers trust. Put your trust in the Lord (Psa 4:5). In whom should a dying creature trust, but in a living God? (1Ti 4:10). In stormy and tempestuous times, though we may not run to the bramble, yet we must to this Rock, for refuge (Isa 26:4). When the sun burns hot, and scorches, a Jonahs gourd will prove insignificant: no shadow like that of a Gods wings (Psa 36:7).
2. The sole object of a believers trust.
Holy trust is an act of worship proper and peculiar to a holy God. No creature must share in it: whatever we trust in, unless it be in subordination unto God, we make it our God, or at least our idol. True trust in God takes us off the hinges of all other confidences: as we cannot serve, so we cannot trust, God and Mammon. There must be but one string to the bow of our trust; and that is the Lord.
IV. What are those sure and stable grounds on which saints may firmly and securely build their trust on God–
1. Gods almighty arm and power. The Lord hath an arm, an outstretched arm (1Ki 8:42); a hand, an omnipotent hand; a hand that spans the heavens (Isa 40:12), that strecheth them out as a curtain, and spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in. On this Almighty arm may believers trust (Isa 51:5).
2. Gods infinite and free goodness, mercy and bounty. His bowels are as tender as His arm is strong.
3. Gods many, choice, exceeding great and precious promises.–These are the flagons that faith keeps by her, the apples [which] she hath hoarded up in store, to revive and quicken in a day of swooning. Who will not trust the word, the promise, the protest of the King of kings? (Heb 13:5; Isa 43:2; Isa 4:5; Isa 6:1).
4. Gods inviolable, steadfast, never-failing faithfulness (1Co 10:13). Gods goodness inclines Him to make good promises, and His faithfulness engages Him to make those promises good.
5. Gods most holy, wise, powerful, gracious providence (Act 17:25; Act 17:28; Pro 15:3). Faith reflects on former experiences, its own and others; and by the holy skill it hath in the physiognomy of providence, clearly reads and collects what God will do, in what God hath done. It casts its eye on–
(1) The experiences of others.–And judges herself to have an interest in those very providences of grace which they enjoyed.
(2) Its own experiences (1Sa 17:37; 2Co 1:10).
6. Those dear relations in which the Lord is pleased to stand and own towards His people cry aloud for their trust in Him. Hath He built the house, and will He not keep it up? He that made us will assuredly take care of us. We may safely give up ourselves, our trust our all, to Him, who hath given us ourselves and our all. This relation the apostle makes the ground of trust (1Pe 4:19).
V. What are those special and signal seasons which call aloud for the exerting of this Divine trust? The wise man tells us there is an appointed time for every purpose under heaven: a time to kill and to heal, to plant and to pluck up, to weep and to laugh, to get and to lose, to be born and to die (Ecc 3:1, etc.). In all these, trust in God is not, like snow in harvest, uncomely, but seasonable, yea, necessary.
VI. How faith or trust exerts, puts forth, demeans, and bestirs itself in these signal seasons.
1. In times of fulness and prosperity. When it goes well with us and ours; when the candle of the Lord shines on us and our tabernacle; whern our lines fall in pleasant places, and our God makes us to lie down in green and fat pastures: now, now is a fair opportunity for faith or trust to exert itself, yea, and to appear gloriously. And, indeed, it requires no less than the utmost of faiths skill to steer the soul handsomely in this serene and smooth-faced calm. And so–
(1) Faith or trust looks upward, and there fixeth its eye on God. And so holy faith delivers herself, in such expressions as these; namely–
(i.) How full soever my large cistern be, it is the Lord, and the Lord alone, that is the grand Fountain, or rather Ocean, of all my enjoyments.
(ii.) Since all that I have is received of God, I may not, I must not boast, crack, glory, as if I received it not (Gen 4:7).
(iii.) Inasmuch as all that I have is from Gods blessing and bounty, this whole all shall be for His praise and glory,
(iv.) Because all my enjoyments proceed from Gods free-gift, or rather his loan, therefore they must and shall be readily surrendered to Gods call.
(v.) Now I enjoy most from God, now, even now, it is necessary that I should trust mostly, yea, wholly and only, in God.
(vi.) These outward enjoyments are indeed sweet; but my God, the author of them, is infinitely more sweet. On the things of God. Faith discovers a world beyond the moon, and trades thither; leaving the men of the earth to load themselves with clay and coals, faith pursues its staple commodity, and traffics for grace and glory.
(2) Faith or trust looks downward, on its fullest and sweetest temporal enjoyments.–And so it accurately weighs these enjoyments in the balance of the sanctuary, and so makes a just estimate of them as to their worth and value.
2. In times of sadness, afflictions, wants, sufferings, miseries.–When the hand of the Lord is gone out against us, and He greatly multiplies our sorrows; now, now is a time for a saints trust to bestir itself to purpose. (T. Lyre.)
Trust in God
You believe in God; that is to say, He has a place in your intellectual notions; you could not on any consideration allow His name to be blotted out of your creed; you are intellectually sure that He lives. Now, be true to your own creed, and trust in Him. You believe that the river runs to the sea, and that the sea is large enough to sustain your ship,–then act upon your faith and launch the vessel. If you keep your vessel on the stocks when she is finished, then all your praises of the ocean go for nothing; better never have built the ship than leave her unlaunched–a monument of your scientific belief, but also a testimony of your practical infidelity. This figure will serve us still further. This faith in God is truly as a sea-going ship. You have this great ship; she is well built; you know her preciousness–but there you are, hesitating on the river, running down to the harbour-bar and coming back again aghast as if you had seen a ghost: have faith; pass the bar; leave the headlands behind; make the stars your counsellors, and ride upon the great sea by the guidance of the greater sun. This is faith: not a mere nodding of the assenting head, but the reverent risking of the loving, clinging heart. To have a God in your belief is to sit in a ship which is chained upon the stocks; but to have a God in the heart, ruling the understanding, the conscience, and the will, is to sail down the river, enter upon the great ocean, and pass over the infinite waters into the haven of rest. Trust in Him at all times. Religion is not to be occasional but continuous. In the daytime our faith is to shine as the sun; in the nighttime it is to fill the darkness with stars; at the wedding-feast it is to turn the water into wine; in the hour of privation it is to surround the impoverished life with angels of hope and promise; in the day of death it is to take the sword from the destroyer and to give the victory to him who is apparently worsted in the fight. In exercising this trust there are two things to be remembered. First–We get some of the highest benefits of life through our most painful discipline. The very act of trust is a continual strain upon the understanding, the affections, and the will. The trust is not an act accomplished once for all, something that was written down in a book long ago and may be made matter of reference and verification; religious trust is the daily condition of the soul, the state in which the soul lives and moves and has its being, the source, so to say, from which it draws all its inspirations, the feast at which it sustains its confidence, and the whole condition which underlies and ennobles the best life. We must remember, too, that the time of full explanation is not until by and by. It is hardly to be questioned that our disappointments may one day come to be reckoned amongst our blessings. We need thus to be taught the lesson of patience, to be chastened, mellowed, and subdued, and to be taught how good a thing it is, not only to wait upon God, but to wait for Him, to wait through long days and weary nights, to stand outside heavens door and to abide there in the confidence that at His own time and in His own way tim King will come, and do for us exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think. The exhortation takes another turn pour out your hearts before Him. Though He knows all, yet He must be told all. Make God your confidant. Hannah said, I have poured out my soul before the Lord. The figure represents the act of giving up the whole of the contents of the heart to Gods keeping. It is not a word now and then that has to be spoken, or a hint that has to be given, or a signal that has to be held out; the action is a complete emptying of the heart, the outpouring of every secret thought, purpose, motive, desire, and affection, that thus the man may stand in a right attitude and relation towards his God. Our communion with heaven should be unreserved. The very first condition to true, profound, and edifying worship is that we should cleanse out our hearts of every secret and pour out the whole contents of our being in penitence and thanksgiving before God: then the vision of heaven will shine upon us, then the comforting angels will be seen with gospels from the throne of grace, then new heavens shall beam above us, and a new earth shall spread out all its flowers and fruits for our delight and our sustenance. Our communion should not only be unreserved, it should be long continued: pray without ceasing. As our breathing is continual so ought our aspiration to be unceasing. The only true analogy about the souls life in reference to communion with God is to be found in the continual breathing of the bodily life. We breathe without knowing it. When we are in health we are not aware that we have a physical nature at all; everything works harmoniously and smoothly, and without giving any reminder to the man that he is inhabiting a decaying or uncertain dwelling-place. It is even so with the soul. This is a sense in which we may enjoy an unconscious piety that has lived itself out of the region of statute and machinery, scaffolding and external upholding, and that poises itself as on strong wings at the very gate of the morning. This is not carelessness; it may be the very last expression of long-continued spiritual culture. There should be some difference of a most obvious and practical kind between those who believe in God and those who do not. Trust in God should express itself in calmness and beneficence of life. The Christian should live to give. Christianity is expenditure. We have nothing that we have not received, and because we have all things in Christ we are to give and labour with both hands earnestly, leaving God to provide for the future as the future may reveal itself. If we may so say it, we can give God no greater pleasure than to cast all our care upon Him, to entrust to Him every concern and every detail of life with absolute fearlessness and perfect consecration. The very hairs of our head are all numbered. Our down-sitting is of consequence to God, and our uprising is matter of note in heaven; yea, our going out and our coming in would seem to touch the solicitudes of our Father. All this will be romantic to the soul who has had no spiritual experience; but we must not consult the blind upon colours, or the deaf upon harmonies, or the dead upon the duties, the enjoyments, and the sacrifices of life. Blessed are the pure in heart; for they shall see God. The natural man does not understand spiritual things; they can only be spiritually discerned. (J. Parker, D. D.)
Continuous trust in God
The emphasis must be put upon the continuousness of the trust. We are called upon to trust God where we cannot praise Him. It is in the Garden of Gethsemane that we can best show the reality and force of our trust in God. Even infidels may laugh at midday, and fools be glad in the time of abounding harvest; only he who lovingly trusts in God can be calm in the darkness, and sing songs of trust when the fig tree does not flourish. Trust of this kind amounts to an argument. It compels the attention of those who study the temper and action of our lives. Naturally they ask how it is that we are so sustained and comforted, and that when other men are complaining and repining we can repeat our prayer and sing the same song of trust, though sometimes, indeed, in a lower tone. We are watched when we stand by the graveside, and if there Christian faith can overcome human sorrow a tribute of praise is due to our principles. And many men may be prepared to render that tribute, and so bring themselves nearer to the kingdom of God. A beautiful refrain is this to our life-song, Trust in Him at all times–in youth, in age, in sorrow, in joy, in poverty, in wealth; at all times, in good harvests and in bad harvests, in the wilderness and in the garden, on the firm earth and on the tumultuous sea; at all times, until time itself has mingled with eternity. (J. Parker, D. D.)
God is a refuge for us.—
God our refuge
I. The representation here given of God. God is a refuge for us.
1. A secure refuge.
2. An ever-present refuge.
3. An accessible refuge.
4. The only refuge.
II. The exhortation grounded upon it.
1. We are to maintain a continual reliance upon God.
2. We are to make an unreserved disclosure of our wants to Him. Pour out your hearts before Him. (R. Davies, M. A.)
God the refuge of His people
I. The necessity of a Divine refuge.
1. As it respects man as a sinner, he needs a refuge.
(1) He is guilty, having broken the righteous law of God.
(2) He is condemned, and the object of pursuit (Gal 3:10).
(3) He is helpless. He cannot give satisfaction (Rom 3:19-20); he is weak (Rom 5:6); he can give no atonement for the past (Mic 6:6-7).
2. As it respects the believer,
(1) With his own heart–Satan, his mighty adversary.
(2) Tribulation. Man is born to trouble as the sparks, etc.
(3) In a dying hour, and at the last day.
(4) The believer needs a refuge on account of his helplessness (2Co 12:10; Joh 15:5).
II. The nature and properties of this refuge.
1. God is a refuge for the guilty. Even as the cities of refuge were provided for the guilty manslayer. The most guilty–the vilest of the vile–find refuge and succour (Heb 6:18).
2. He is a refuge for His people in conflict. Such lie was to David (2Sa 22:1-3; Psa 142:4-6). He will give grace sufficient to war a good warfare.
3. God is a refuge in tribulation (Psa 9:9; Psa 59:16; Jer 16:19).
4. He is a refuge of strength for the weak and helpless.
5. lie will be a refuge in death, and at the judgment day. Then will He be recognized as a God in covenant, and He will save His people. (Helps for the Pulpit.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 8. Trust in him – ye people] All ye who are faithful to your king, continue to trust in God. The usurper will soon be cast down, and your rightful sovereign restored to his government. Fear not the threatenings of my enemies, for God will be a refuge for us.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Trust in him at all times, ye people; by my example be encouraged, and learn to trust God.
Pour out your heart before him, i.e. make known all the desires, and cares, and griefs of your hearts to him freely and frequently, with confident expectation of obtaining what you want or desire from him.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
8. pour out your heartgivefull expression to feeling (1Sa 1:15;Job 30:16; Psa 42:4).
ye peopleGod’s people.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Trust in him at all times, [ye] people,…. Of the house of Israel, as the Targum; or of God, as Aben Ezra; all that are Israelites indeed, and are the Lord’s covenant people; these are exhorted and encouraged to trust in him; not in a creature, nor in any outward thing, in riches, wisdom, strength, birth, privileges, the law, and the works of it; in their own righteousness, in their hearts, in themselves or in others; but in the Lord only, both for temporal and spiritual blessings: the Targum is, “in his Word”; his essential Word, by whom the world was made, and who, in the fulness of time, was made flesh, and dwelt among us, and who is a proper object of trust; in him should the people of God trust; in his person for acceptance with God, in his righteousness for justification, in his blood for pardon, in his grace for supply, and in his strength for support, deliverance, and salvation, and that “at all times”: there is no time excepted; there is not a moment in which the Lord is not to be trusted in: he is to be trusted in in adversity as well as in prosperity; in times of affliction, when he is present, and will not forsake; in times of temptation, when his grace is sufficient for them; and in times of darkness, when he will arise and appear unto them;
pour out your heart before him: as Hannah did, 1Sa 1:15; and as water is poured out, La 2:19; it means the desires of the heart, the complaints of the soul, the whole of their case which they should spread before the Lord, and make known unto him; see Ps 102:1, title, and #Ps 142: 2; the phrase denotes the abundance of the heart, and of its requests, and the freedom with which they should be made to the Lord; for through the blood and sacrifice of Christ a believer may come to the throne of grace with boldness and liberty, and there freely tell the Lord all his mind, and all that is in his heart;
God [is] a refuge for us; to whom the saints may have recourse in all their times of trouble, and where they find safety and plenty,
Isa 33:16.
Selah; on this word, [See comments on Ps 3:2].
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
| An Exhortation to Trust in God. | |
8 Trust in him at all times; ye people, pour out your heart before him: God is a refuge for us. Selah. 9 Surely men of low degree are vanity, and men of high degree are a lie: to be laid in the balance, they are altogether lighter than vanity. 10 Trust not in oppression, and become not vain in robbery: if riches increase, set not your heart upon them. 11 God hath spoken once; twice have I heard this; that power belongeth unto God. 12 Also unto thee, O Lord, belongeth mercy: for thou renderest to every man according to his work.
Here we have David’s exhortation to others to trust in God and wait upon him, as he had done. Those that have found the comfort of the ways of God themselves will invite others into those ways; there is enough in God for all the saints to draw from, and we shall have never the less for others sharing with us.
I. He counsels all to wait upon God, as he did, v. 8. Observe,
1. To whom he gives this good counsel: You people (that is, all people); all shall be welcome to trust in God, for he is the confidence of all the ends of the earth, Ps. lxv. 5. You people of the house of Israel (so the Chaldee); they are especially engaged and invited to trust in God, for he is the God of Israel; and should not a people seek unto their God?
2. What the good counsel is which he gives. (1.) To confide in God: “Trust in him; deal with him, and be willing to deal upon trust; depend upon him to perform all things for you, upon his wisdom and goodness, his power and promise, his providence and grace. Do this at all times.” We must have an habitual confidence in God always, must live a life of dependence upon him, must so trust in him at all times as not at any time to put that confidence in ourselves, or in any creature, which is to be put in him only; and we must have an actual confidence in God upon all occasions, trust in him upon every emergency, to guide us when we are in doubt, to protect us when we are in danger, to supply us when we are in want, to strengthen us for every good word and work. (2.) To converse with God: Pour out your heart before him. The expression seems to allude to the pouring out of the drink-offerings before the Lord. When we make a penitent confession of sin our hearts are therein poured out before God, 1 Sam. vii. 6. But here it is meant of prayer, which, if it be as it should be, is the pouring out of the heart before God. We must lay our grievances before him, offer up our desires to him with all humble freedom, and then entirely refer ourselves to his disposal, patiently submitting our wills to his: this is pouring out our hearts.
3. What encouragement he gives us to take this good counsel: God is a refuge for us, not only my refuge (v. 7), but a refuge for us all, even as many as will flee to him and take shelter in him.
II. He cautions us to take heed of misplacing our confidence, in which, as much as in any thing, the heart is deceitful, Jer. xvii. 5-9. Those that trust in God truly (v. 1) will trust in him only, v. 5. 1. Let us not trust in the men of this world, for they are broken reeds (v. 9): Surely men of low degree are vanity, utterly unable to help us, and men of high degree are a lie, that will deceive us if we trust to them. Men of low degree, one would think, might be relied on for their multitude and number, their bodily strength and service, and men of high degree for their wisdom, power, and influence; but neither the one nor the other are to be depended on. Of the two, men of high degree are mentioned as the more deceiving; for they are a lie, which denotes not only vanity, but iniquity. We are not so apt to depend upon men of low degree as upon the king and the captain of the host, who, by the figure they make, tempt us to trust in them, and so, when they fail us, prove a lie. But lay them in the balance, the balance of the scripture, or rather make trial of them, see how they will prove, whether they will answer your expectations from them or no, and you will write Tekel upon them; they are alike lighter than vanity; there is no depending upon their wisdom to advise us, their power to act for us, their good-will to us, no, nor upon their promises, in comparison with God, nor otherwise than in subordination to him. 2. Let us not trust in the wealth of this world, let not that be made our strong city (v. 10): Trust not in oppression; that is, in riches got by fraud and violence, because where there is a great deal it is commonly got by indirect scraping or saving (our Saviour calls it the mammon of unrighteousness, Luke xvi. 9), or in the arts of getting riches. “Think not, either because you have got abundance or are in the way of getting, that therefore you are safe enough; for this is becoming vain in robbery, that is, cheating yourselves while you think to cheat others.” He that trusted in the abundance of his riches strengthened himself in his wickedness (Ps. lii. 7); but at his end he will be a fool, Jer. xvii. 11. Let none be so stupid as to think of supporting themselves in their sin, much less of supporting themselves in this sin. Nay, because it is hard to have riches and not to trust in them, if they increase, though by lawful and honest means, we must take heed lest we let out our affections inordinately towards them: “Set not your heart upon them; be not eager for them, do not take a complacency in them as the rest of your souls, nor put a confidence in them as your portion; be not over-solicitous about them; do not value yourselves and others by them; make not the wealth of the world your chief good and highest end: in short, do not make an idol of it.” This we are most in danger of doing when riches increase. When the grounds of the rich man brought forth plentifully, then he said to his soul, Take thy ease in these things, Luke xii. 19. It is a smiling world that is most likely to draw the heart away from God, on whom only it should be set.
III. He gives a very good reason why we should make God our confidence, because he is a God of infinite power, mercy, and righteousness, Psa 62:11; Psa 62:12. This he himself was well assured of and would have us be assured of it: God has spoken once; twice have I heard this; that is, 1. “God has spoken it, and I have heard it, once, yea, twice. He has spoken it, and I have heard it by the light of reason, which easily infers it from the nature of the infinitely perfect Being and from his works both of creation and providence. He has spoken it, and I have heard once, yea, twice (that is, many a time), by the events that have concerned me in particular. He has spoken it and I have heard it by the light of revelation, by dreams and visions (Job iv. 15), by the glorious manifestation of himself upon Mount Sinai” (to which, some think, it does especially refer), “and by the written word.” God has often told us what a great and good God he is, and we ought as often to take notice of what he has told us. Or, 2. “Though God spoke it but once, I heard it twice, heard it diligently, not only with my outward ears, but with my soul and mind.” To some God speaks twice and they will not hear once; but to others he speaks but once, and they hear twice. Compare Job xxxiii. 14. Now what is it which is thus spoken and thus heard? (1.) That the God with whom we have to do is infinite in power. Power belongs to God; he is almighty, and can do every thing; with him nothing is impossible. All the powers of all the creatures are derived form him, depend upon him, and are used by him as he pleases. His is the power, and to him we must ascribe it. This is a good reason why we should trust in him at all times and live in a constant dependence upon him; for he is able to do all that for us which we trust in him for. (2.) That he is a God of infinite goodness. Here the psalmist turns his speech to God himself, as being desirous to give him the glory of his goodness, which is his glory: Also unto thee, O Lord! belongeth mercy. God is not only the greatest, but the best, of beings. Mercy is with him, Psa 130:4; Psa 130:7. He is merciful in a way peculiar to himself; he is the Father of mercies, 2 Cor. i. 3. This is a further reason why we should trust in him, and answers the objections of our sinfulness and unworthiness; though we deserve nothing but his wrath, yet we may hope for all good from his mercy, which is over all his works. (3.) That he never did, nor ever will do, any wrong to any of his creatures: For thou renderest to every man according to his work. Though he does not always do this visibly in this world, yet he will do it in the day of recompence. No service done him shall go unrewarded, nor any affront given him unpunished, unless it be repented of. By this it appears that power and mercy belong to him. If he were not a God of power, there are sinners that would be too great to be punished. And if he were not a God of mercy there are services that would be too worthless to be rewarded. This seems especially to bespeak the justice of God in judging upon appeals made to him by wronged innocency; he will be sure to judge according to truth, in giving redress to the injured and avenging them on those that have been injurious to them, 1 Kings viii. 32. Let those therefore that are wronged commit their cause to him and trust to him to plead it.
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
8. Ye people The address here is to his loyal subjects, who had been faint hearted. See Psa 4:6. He exhorts them to trust only and fully in God. As a military order it was worthy this unequalled theocratic sovereign, and was more effective, morally, at this hour, than the loudest preaching.
Pour out your heart before him He had already done it on this same occasion, (see Psa 42:4,) and at an earlier day when in distress, Psa 142:2. The pouring out of the heart is an expression borrowed from an ancient custom of taking an oath by pouring water on the ground. The water was “poured out before the Lord,” to signify that their words and promises had gone forth and could not be recalled, being “as water spilt upon the ground which cannot be gathered up again.” Roberts. See 1Sa 7:6; 2Sa 14:14; Lam 2:19
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
He now addressed the people of God, as he had before expostulated with the ungodly. And the sum and substance of his advice is, to proclaim the certainty of their interest in a covenant God in Christ, from the evidence of his faithfulness. Not only to a general trust, but a constant, special, particular trust; not only now and then, but at all times, and upon all occasions. And not only to a trust, but an acquaintance with the Lord; nay, to pour out the heart, to tell the Lord all that passeth in the soul. Reader, do not overlook the Selah of this sweet precept: pray observe it, and may the Lord give us both grace to perform it.
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
“Handfuls of Purpose”
For All Gleaners
“Trust in him at all times.” Psa 62:8
The emphasis must be upon the continuousness of the trust. Occasional trust is continual infidelity. Spasmodic religion is but a variety of unbelief. In the regularity, the continuousness, it may be even the monotony, of our religious sacrifices we find their genuine worth. It is difficult for some minds to distinguish between that which is regular and that which is monotonous. We may so live as to make sunshine itself a monotony; or we may so use it as to find every day a poem, every season a vision and an apocalypse. Jo said, “Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him.” We are called upon to trust God where we cannot praise him. It is in the Garden of Gethsemane that we best can show the reality and force of our trust in God. Fair-weather religion is a mockery, a variety of selfishness, a mere sentiment that comes and goes with the sunshine. It is when our heart is overwhelmed within us that we should desire to be led to the Rock that is high and infinite. It is when our souls are filled with bitterness that we should declare we will not leave the strong tower of God. Here it is that the Christian has a constant opportunity for showing the completeness, the tenderness, and the practical value of faith. Even infidels may laugh at midday, and fools be glad in the time of abounding harvest; only he who lovingly trusts in God can be calm in the darkness, and sing songs of trust when the fig tree does not flourish. Trust of this kind amounts to an argument. It compels the attention of those who study the temper and action of our lives. Naturally they ask how is it that we are so sustained and comforted, and that when other men are complaining and repining we can repeat our prayer and sing the same song of trust, though sometimes, indeed, in a lower tone. We are watched when we stand by the graveside, and if there Christian faith can overcome human sorrow a tribute of praise is due to our principles. And many men may be prepared to render that tribute, and so bring themselves nearer to the kingdom of God. A beautiful refrain is this to our life-song, “Trust in him at all times” in youth, in age, in sorrow, in joy, in poverty, in wealth; at all times, in good harvests and in bad harvests, in the wilderness and in the garden, on the firm earth and on the tumultuous sea; at all times, until time itself has mingled with eternity.
Fuente: The People’s Bible by Joseph Parker
Psa 62:8 Trust in him at all times; [ye] people, pour out your heart before him: God [is] a refuge for us. Selah.
Ver. 8. Trust in him at all times ] As well in the fail of outward comforts as in the abundance of them, trust him without a pawn; trust in a killing God, as Job did.
Pour out your hearts before him
God is a refuge for us
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Trust = Confide. Hebrew. batah. App-69.
at all times, Septuagint and Vulg, read “all ye assembly of the People”.
Selah. Connecting his trust in God with the nothingness of man. See App-66.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
trust
(See Scofield “Psa 2:12”).
Fuente: Scofield Reference Bible Notes
Trust: Psa 22:4, Psa 22:5, Psa 34:1, Psa 34:2, Psa 47:1-3, Job 13:15, Isa 26:4, Isa 50:10, 1Jo 2:28
pour: Psa 42:4, Psa 102:1, *title Psa 142:2, 1Sa 1:15, Isa 26:16, Lam 2:19, Phi 4:6
God: Psa 18:2, Psa 46:11, Pro 14:26, Heb 6:18
Reciprocal: Num 35:6 – six cities for refuge 1Sa 30:6 – David 2Ki 6:27 – whence Job 35:14 – trust Psa 4:5 – put Psa 9:9 – The Lord Psa 18:3 – I will Psa 55:22 – Cast Psa 84:12 – blessed Psa 86:4 – do Psa 112:7 – trusting Psa 115:9 – trust Psa 118:8 – General Psa 119:145 – cried Pro 3:5 – Trust Pro 22:19 – thy Isa 33:2 – be gracious Jer 20:12 – for Jer 48:7 – because Lam 3:24 – therefore Dan 3:28 – that trusted Mar 11:22 – Have Rom 12:12 – continuing Eph 5:19 – making 1Ti 6:17 – but
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Psa 62:8. Trust in him at all times, ye people By my example be encouraged, and learn to trust in God. Pour out your heart before him Make known to him all the desires, cares, and griefs of your hearts freely and frequently, with confident expectation of obtaining what you want or desire from him. God is a refuge for us Not only, my refuge, Psa 62:7, but a refuge for us all, even as many as will flee to him, and take shelter in him.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
62:8 Trust in him at all times; [ye] people, {g} pour out your heart before him: God [is] a refuge for us. Selah.
(g) He admonishes us of our wicked nature, which would rather hide our sorrow and bite the bridle, than utter our grief to God to obtain remedy.